3/23/2010 @ 3:40PM

What The Health Care Bill Means For Women

The new health care bill represents one of the biggest challenges to U.S. social policy in decades. And for several reasons it may have an especially large impact on women in the U.S. That’s because women make the majority of family health care decisions, and on average they live longer than men and require more medical care over a longer period of time. In addition, women have special health care needs–primarily around pregnancy, childbirth and childcare.

In heralding the bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi specifically focused on how it would benefit women: “It’s personal for women. After we pass this bill, being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing medical condition.”

Among the immediate effects for women, insurance companies will no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender. Kirsten Sloan, vice president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, says, “Every woman who has been overcharged because of her gender won a victory.”

Nancy Taylor, an attorney and the former health policy director for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, believes the bill provides women with greater information and health care purchasing power for themselves and their families. Preventative services like mammograms and immunizations, for example, will be fully covered by private health plans and Medicare.

The National Partnership for Women & Families notes that all health plans will also now be required to cover maternity and newborn care, as well as pediatric services expanded to include dental and vision care. Medicaid will expand services to pregnant women and new mothers, offering more family planning services, home visiting programs and postpartum education and support. Working moms will also get a boost, as employers will be required to offer breaks and space for nursing mothers to pump breast milk.

The provision in the bill that bars insurers from discriminating on pre-existing conditions is important to women because some insurance companies have rejected victims of domestic violence and rape. Some insurers have also classified women whove had caesarian sections as having pre-existing conditions.

Other provisions for children and young adults are particularly meaningful for women who make an estimated 80% of health care decisions for their families, according to the Department of Labor. Almost immediately, children with pre-existing conditions will be able to receive coverage. Insurance companies will also now allow young adults to remain on a parent’s plan through age 26.

Older women as well as men will receive some additional help with prescription drug costs. But since women live longer on average, the Medicare expansion will help them budget their medication costs.

Another portion of the bill will affect small-business owners, many of whom are women. (Women are forming small businesses at twice the rate of men.) If they provide insurance to their employees, their businesses will be eligible for tax credits.

Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, board member of the National Association of Women Business Owners, says her organization supports the bill’s focus on prevention and wellness, but that lowered costs aren’t assured. “Small businesses have seen double-digit increases in premiums over the years,” she says. “The unknown is whether all these provisions will end up driving costs up or down.”

Jason Beans, CEO of Rising Medical Solutions, a Chicago-based medical cost containment and care management company, asks, “Will [the bill] provide women with quality health care, a choice of provider and a known price point?” He believes “the fundamental issue we need to be solving in health care is a lack of transparency and lack of consumer involvement in cost control. This bill doesn’t solve that.”

Some critics say the new legislation will increase taxes in future years. That, in turn, could propel companies to limit health care benefits. If companies were to limit benefits only to employees and not employee spouses, it could disproportionately affect women, who are more likely to be covered under a partner’s plan and are more likely to take time out of the workplace for child-rearing.